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Just what do government workers do?

Ever wonder what those men and women (mostly in uniform) who work around major
international airports actually do for a living? Other than slow things down for
us busy and important travelers who have places to go and things to do?

Does it really matter if they are forced to take a
furlough day once a week for a couple of weeks. Sure they will miss the money,
but will we miss them? Maybe more than we think. Take last Saturday, please...

Over the weekend, Customs and Border Protection personnel
arrested a 47-year-old woman at the International Arrivals area of Dulles Airport.
She had just flown in from London. What she obviously didn't know is that they
were serving an arrest warrant for child abduction issued by Montgomery County,
Md. The child in question, a young girl, was reunited with her father.

We don't know the details or merits of the case. Or how it will
turn out. What we do know is that the feds did their job. According to the CBP,
its agents and officers make an average of 54 criminal arrests each day, every
day, at various U.S. ports of entry.

Some of the arrests involve drugs hidden in TMI places you wouldn't
believe. Sometimes they are more amusing, like parrots or other exotic, sometimes
dangerous creatures being smuggled in coat pockets, shirts, pants and
occasionally underwear. Some of the arrests involve very dangerous weapons.

Over the years, the gang at Dulles and at airports in Miami, Atlanta,
Dallas-Ft. Worth, LAX and San Francisco have seen lots of interesting stuff. And
that isn't going to stop.

But whether the furloughs are necessary or not, it appears to be a
good thing that the CBP people were there, and on their toes, over the weekend.

Wonder what and where the other 53 average arrests were that day?
Maybe we need these people after all!

Sideburns have been around since at least 100 B.C. but they didn't earn their name
(well, besides mutton chops) until the 1880s. The term is derived from the name of
Union Army General Ambrose Burnside, who was known for sporting the distinctive
facial hair.

House passes spending bill
to prevent shutdown, extend pay freeze
The House has approved legislation to prevent a government shutdown at the end of
the month, freeze federal pay for a third straight year and give the Defense
Department some relief from a cash crunch caused by sequestration. The huge
spending measure would fund federal operations through September. It largely
leaves in place automatic cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 7.8 percent
to the Pentagon.